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Former Orlando Apollo player making his mark
The Orlando Apollos team is no more. The Alliance of American Football league folded last year. One former player for the Apollos and a former University of Central Florida football player, Chris Martin, is crafting new goals and finding new purpose in his post-AAF career.
ORLANDO, Fla. - After a professional football league shuttered last year, local players have found new opportunities.
The Orlando Apollos, coached by Steve Spurrier, were winning games and thought they would be league champions. But that streak came to an abrupt end in April of 2019. The Alliance of American football went bankrupt.
“Shock. Definitely shock. It was so sudden,” said offensive lineman Chris Martin the day he found out the news.
Now, FOX 35 is catching up with the former UCF player about life post-AAF.
“We tried to figure out what to do from that point on but it was a slap in the face,” Martin said.
He says he had hoped he could settle in Orlando with the Apollos. He signed a three-year contract and be believed it would give his family some stability after years bouncing around in the NFL and CFL.
“Went back to the Texans, went to the 49ers, to the Dolphins… all over the place. Went back up to the Bills, Patriots,” Martin said, listing his former teams.
He says most of his Apollos teammates have landed in the XFL. But he’s decided to try something new. He’s got a training gig at D1 in Dr. Phillips, where he’ll be teaching instead of playing.
“This is giving me the opportunity to express everything I’ve learned in my football career,” Martin said.
The game brought him back to Orlando. The love for football and family – keeping him here.
“Being a journeyman, I was able to learn all these different things from all these different places so now I have the opportunity to really pour it into kids, all of this knowledge I’ve accumulated over all this time,” he said.
Martin said he would also like to pursue a career as a firefighter/EMT.